The Wagner Effect: What Next For Responsible Security?

Organised in partnership with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Over the past few months the Wagner Group has grabbed all of the headlines, with operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa. The activities of the Wagner Group have generated urgent calls for a greater understanding of the evolving private military contracting (PMC) landscape, and the impact of malign private military contractors (PMCs) and non-responsible security contractors in fragile or unstable environments. This panel will assess the market drivers and funding models of PMCs, such as state capture or natural resource concessions, their modes of actions from armed violence to disinformation and consider what actions should the international community take to rein in malign actors, and generally strengthen oversight and accountability of PMCs before it is too late. It will also discuss how responsible private security companies need to step up if they are not to be tarred with the same brush as the Wagner Group.

Time: 9:30 -11:00

Panelists: 

• Jamie Williamson, Executive Director, ICoCA
• Alessandro Arduino, Affiliate Lecturer, Lau China Institute of King’s College London
• Erica Harper, Head of Researcher and Policy Studies, Geneva Academy
• David Clough, Head of the Proxy PMSC Cell, UK FCDO

Moderator: Annyssa Bellal, Executive Director, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform

Venue: Fédération des Enterprises Romandes Genève, Rue de Saint-Jean 98, 1201 Geneva